'Ransom from kidnappings may revive Abu Sayyaf'
by MANNY MOGATO, Reuters | 12/11/2008 10:11 PM
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Proceeds from kidnappings in the southern Philippines may revive the small but deadly Abu Sayyaf Islamic militant group linked to the al Qaeda network, analysts and officials said on Thursday.
Many unschooled and out-of-work young Muslims on two remote southern islands have been recruited by the Abu Sayyaf, lured by easy cash and weapons, said Rodolfo Mendoza of the security think-tank Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research.
"It's easier to recruit if you have the money," Mendoza, a retired police general, told Reuters in an interview, adding the new recruits never understood the ideology of the Abu Sayyaf.
Among Muslims in the south of the mainly Catholic country, gun ownership is a status symbol, he added.
"These are not jihadis, they were there just for the money. When the Abu Sayyaf runs out of cash, they (recruits) just go back to their villages. They're like seasonal workers, militants-for-hire."
Mendoza said the Abu Sayyaf was nearly decimated after the death of its founder and leader, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, in the late 1990s. But it sprang back to life when about 20 Malaysian and Western tourists were kidnapped on Sipadan island on Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah in 2000.
At the height of high-profile kidnapping incidents in 2000 to 2001, the Abu Sayyaf had about 5,000 fighters, Mendoza said, adding some of their leaders then carried brand-new assault rifles which they bragged about to the media.
Last month, army and police officials said in an official report to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that nearly 60 million pesos ($125,000) had been paid in ransom for 33 kidnap victims in the south since the start of the year.
Most of the abductions this year happened in the second half.
There was almost no kidnapping in 2007 as the military was in hot pursuit of Abu Sayyaf members suspected to be hiding two key suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings.
Brigadier-General Rustico Guerrero, Marine brigade commander, said there were only 50 known Abu Sayyaf rebels on Basilan island but their numbers have grown three-fold in the last four months due to kidnappings, extortion and other criminal activities.
"We've noticed that some rebels were moving from neighbouring islands to Basilan, lured by profits from kidnapping," Guerrero told Reuters, adding the group was also getting support from the larger Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Last Sunday, Guerrero's units fought a combined MILF and Abu Sayyaf on the island, where five soldiers were killed and 25 were wounded. At least five rebels were killed in the clashes, the military said.
Mendoza and Guerrero, however, believe Muslim militants in the Philippines are not capable of launching a commando attack in the capital Manila similar to what had happened in Mumbai in late November.
"Unlike Islamic militant groups in other parts of Asia, the Abu Sayyaf is money-driven," Mendoza said. "Only a small number of these militants are really fanatics. For the rest of them, it's their livelihood."
